The Perceived Restorativeness of Differently Managed Forests and Its Association with Forest Qualities and Individual Variables : A Field Experiment

Despite increasing research knowledge about the positive well-being effects forests have on citizens, it is still unclear how the quality of forests and individual variables effect the well-being. This research investigated (1) the differences in restorative experiences (components being away, fascination, compatibility and extent, measured by perceived restorativeness (PRS)), and (2) how people evaluate forest qualities in four differently managed forests. Furthermore, this research studied (3) which individual variables (4) as well as forest qualities, explain the overall restorative experience (PRS-score from all components). Altogether, 66 volunteers were taken in small groups to each of the four forest sites once, after their day at work. The participants viewed the forests for 15 min and then walked inside the forests for 30 min. Their perceived restorativeness and perceptions about forest qualities were measured on-site after each visit. Most of the components of PRS differed between the three older forests compared to the young forest. The three older forests also had more preferred qualities, compared to the young commercial forest. From the individual variables, the nature relatedness positively explained the restorative experiences (PRS-score) in old-growth forest and in mature commercial forest. Beauty was the most important quality that explained PRS-score in all forests. Biodiversity positively explained the PRS-score, except in urban recreation forest. However, not all forest qualities need to be present in order to reach high perceived restorativeness and both a pristine or managed old forest can have high restorative values. Also, decaying wood does not seem to diminish forests' restorative values, but there may be individual differences in its acceptance. Therefore, a greater attention to the overall versatility is needed when managing the forest used for outdooring.Peer reviewe

The role of state-owned commercial forests and firm features in nature-based tourism business performance

Nature-based tourism (NBT) is a growing industry within regions rich in natural amenities worldwide. An important feature of NBT business is the dependence on the quality of surrounding environment. This paper addresses the role of the management of commercial forests owned by the state in Finnish Lapland. The paper explores the NBT entrepreneurs' willingness to participate in a proposed new landscape and recreational value trading (LRVT) and elaborates the effect of entrepreneur and enterprise characteristics, such as entrepreneurial attitude, venture size, and a variety of services offered to customers, on the experienced and expected growth of NBT enterprise. The survey data on NBT enterprises were analyzed with ordered and binary logit models. The willingness of enterprises to participate in LRVT depended on the venture size, entrepreneurial attitude, and type of activities offered to customers. The results show that relatively young and small-sized enterprises have faced difficulties in developing their business. Entrepreneurial experience, risk-taking and intention to develop new business associate positively with expected increase in turnover.Peer reviewe

Short virtual nature breaks in the office environment can restore stress : An experimental study

Knowledge workers need short breaks during their office hours to relieve stress. We examined the benefits of virtually produced nature environments during afternoon breaks. Knowledge workers (n = 39) visited the Virtual Nature Room a total of nine times. During their 15-min break, the volunteers 1) watched a video (of a forest or water environment) on a TV monitor with related nature sounds, 2) listened to nature sounds (without a video), or 3) as a control condition, sat in the quiet room without audio-visual material. The volunteers responded to the psychological measures, and we measured the heart rate variability during the experiment. All breaks indicated stress reduction in some measures. The video with audio sessions increased the felt restoration more than the audio and the control conditions. The mean heart rate was sensitive to detect slight decrease during video conditions over the control. Some unexpected results such as the decrease of positive emotions and energy level during breaks are discussed.Peer reviewe

ATLAS B0 toroid model coil test at CERN

The ATLAS superconducting magnet system consists of a Barrel Toroid, two End-Cap Toroids and a Central Solenoid. The Barrel Toroid, with overall dimensions of 20-m diameter by 26-m length, is made of eight individual coils symmetrically assembled around the central axis with a warm structure. The system is presently under construction in industry. In order to verify the construction concepts a model coil B0, a 9-m short version of a single Barrel Toroid coil, was built. Since April 2001, an extensive test program is underway at CERN to characterize the mechanical, thermal, electrical and magnetic properties of the coil. The magnet successfully achieved the 20-kA nominal operating current in July 2001. The test program and the main results are reported. (9 refs)

Evidence for the h_b(1P) meson in the decay Upsilon(3S) --> pi0 h_b(1P)

Using a sample of 122 million Upsilon(3S) events recorded with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at SLAC, we search for the $h_b(1P)$ spin-singlet partner of the P-wave chi_{bJ}(1P) states in the sequential decay Upsilon(3S) --> pi0 h_b(1P), h_b(1P) --> gamma eta_b(1S). We observe an excess of events above background in the distribution of the recoil mass against the pi0 at mass 9902 +/- 4(stat.) +/- 2(syst.) MeV/c^2. The width of the observed signal is consistent with experimental resolution, and its significance is 3.1sigma, including systematic uncertainties. We obtain the value (4.3 +/- 1.1(stat.) +/- 0.9(syst.)) x 10^{-4} for the product branching fraction BF(Upsilon(3S)-->pi0 h_b) x BF(h_b-->gamma eta_b).Comment: 8 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid Communications

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011